by Angera Allen
I can see the worried look on her face, but I smile and reply, “I got this. I just needed to get my bearings. I need to fix my face and check in back home, but then it’s time to drink.”
Izzy’s face lights up. “That’s my Ruby Rube. I’ll have Gin come in here so you two can officially meet. Her man, Shy, and cousin, Mac, own this place. The boys are on strict orders to watch over you tonight.”
Izzy gets up moving over to the door, opening it she leans out saying something to whoever is standing outside of it. I grab my purse and fish through it for my makeup.
“Do I look okay? I have on Uggs.”
Izzy turns around. “You look super cute. That sweater hanging off the shoulder is sexy.”
I start to apply makeup while Izzy moves around the small area. I try to hold in my nervousness, but when I see a drink come into my view, I laugh. I thank the gods above for this woman right here, as I grab the glass from her. No matter how much time has passed between us, she knows me better than I know myself, and alcohol is the one thing I need right now.
Izzy states, “I think you need a couple of these right now before you do anything.”
I smile standing up. “Iz, you know me so well. God, I love you.”
She raises her glass to mine. “To finding you and to making new memories. Cheers biatch.”
“Cheers biatch,” I reply.
I slam down the vodka Red Bull. Goddamn, that’s strong.
After I made my phone call home, talking with Isabella and downing another vodka Red Bull, I was feeling pretty good. Izzy’s friend Ginger came in and took charge of me. Dragging me around the bar introducing me to everyone she talked to. We hit it off right away. She’s sarcastic, full of hell and doesn’t take any shit from anyone.
God, I used to be just like her. I want to be like this again.
I’m sitting in the VIP area buzzed from all the drinks everyone keeps handing me. I’m sitting next to Ginger and her man. I learned he’s the president of the motorcycle club, called the Wolfeman, which Gus and Quick also belong to. Ginger is very friendly and keeps me up-to-date with who is who that walks by us. Izzy has mentioned a few of these people but nothing in detail. Usually, when we talked on the phone, it was where she was, how music was going, Bella and just overall updates on our life. Short and sweet, that way I didn’t have to deal with Brody bitching. Brody didn’t like how I acted after chatting with Izzy, saying I would be bitchy or sad. Probably because deep down I wasn’t happy and talking to Izzy just reminded me of all the things I was missing out on.
Gus has been hovering around me but not saying too much. He gives me head nods here and there, but that is all. Most of the guys stand around the VIP area bullshitting and watching the crowd. The last hour I’ve been people watching myself and love it. It is so different here compared to back home, that it draws me in.
The one person I haven’t seen since we got here is Quick. I’ve been scanning the crowd, but with so many people here it is impossible to find anyone. Especially with how short I am, being a little over five foot has always been an issue. I can never see anything when we’re in a crowded group. I look to the booth and see Izzy smiling back at me. She has been killing it on the decks tonight. She’s changed so much since the last time I’ve seen her, and I can’t even remember the last time I've seen her perform. We have always loved music. I feel that’s what brought us together all those years ago. She was the rich kid who was running from her parents, while I was on the poor side pretending to be rich. She has always been so beautiful but never acted like it.
I wipe the tear that falls just thinking about all the good times we used to have and how much I’ve missed her.
When Shy, Ginger’s man, gets up to move behind us to chat with a group of guys, Ginger grabs the bottle of vodka and moves closer to me. She takes this opportunity to let all the gossip start to spill. She pours us both a drink and dives in telling me about all the craziness this past year has been. I knew it was bad, but I didn’t know it was this bad. I didn’t know someone was killed and taken. Shocked, I slam the rest of my drink.
Jesus and here I am feeling bad about my shit these past few months, and they lost a friend.
Ginger pours us another stiff drink and continues telling me about her father’s club and how she left there at nineteen to move here. How Shy was her first love and then her first heartbreak.
“For fuck’s sake,” I breathed, slamming back half of my drink.
She’s telling me about how Shy took over an MC club here in New York, so he could be with her. It all sounded crazy, but it kept my mind off my own problems. I reply with my support for her and shock over all that she is telling me.
Goddamn, this woman has been through so much. I slam the rest of the drink.
She pours us another drink. I love watching her tell me the stories but when she keeps going on about being chased by bikers, fights in the club and when she told me about a finger being left for her, I freaked out and told her to shut the fuck up.
I’m completely buzzed and obviously feeling comfortable with her because I start to let loose about my fucked-up marriage. I don’t tell her much, just how stupid I feel for being so upset over the fuckwad when they have been through so much more. We go back and forth with stories, and before long we are both totally shit faced, laughing, talking shit. I can’t believe all the shit that has happened. It’s shocking, and I can’t think straight.
I slam my drink and sit back in the chair, trying to wrap my head around all the shit she just told me when all of a sudden Ginger jumps up. I bolt up after her ready for anything, especially after what she just told me, but there is nothing.
“Ruby, let’s dance,” Ginger yells all amped up.
“Fuckin’ hell, Gin, you scared the shit out of me. I thought there was a fight or someone coming to kill us.”
I clench my chest and start to laugh at how silly we probably looked. Moving around so fast has all the alcohol rushing to my head, and I get light-headed.
“Easy Gin. Don’t make the lass throw up,” Gus says from next to me when he grabs my elbow steadying me.
All I can do is giggle and try to focus on standing up straight.
“Sit down. Let me get you some water. Gin, watch her an sweet Jesus, don’t give her anymore to drink,” Gus growls.
I fall back into the chair now hysterically laughing. Ginger moves in front of me dancing, she leans down placing her hands on either side of the big lounge chair.
“Oh, my God. Are you okay?” Ginger says giggling.
I keep laughing. “Hell yes, I’m okay.”
I lean back in my chair with a smile, thinking how this woman just woke me the fuck up.
Fuck. I’ve been in my own head for so long that I didn't take the time to look around. There are other things going on in life that are way worse than what I’m going through. I’m just getting divorced. My life isn’t over. Things will be okay. I will be fine. Shit, my life is just beginning.
Feeling good about myself and my little pep talk, I try to stand up to dance with Ginger but fail, falling back into the big cushion chair. Ginger comes to my aid, but we both just end up laughing trying to get me out of the chair to dance. Shy comes up behind Ginger grabbing her around the waist lifting her up. She squeals laughing, yelling at him to put her down.
I lean forward placing my hands on my knees, taking a deep breath. I see Gus moving toward us from the bar. I take another deep breath and try to pull myself up out of this fucking chair when suddenly I’m lifted up effortlessly by two strong hands that come from behind me.
Who the fuck?
“Jesus Christ, woman, you’re tiny as fuck without that marshmallow engulfing you. And this fucking hair...” Quick says, purring next to my ear before taking in a deep breath.
Jesus, Quick! Did he just smell my hair? His breath on my neck sends a wakeup call to every nerve in my body.
I swing around losing my balance and falling back, but Quick reaches out catchin
g me as he pulls me into
his massive chest. I place my hands on him, leaning back to look up at his face and spout off, “For fuck’s sake quit calling me marshmallow.”
Quick’s smile widens showing me his pearly whites. “You’re a feisty little shit,” he drawls sexily.
I’m dizzy, and it isn’t all from being drunk. Fuck, he’s fine.
“You always this feisty or is it just me you like to fuck with?” Quick says down at me with a devilish smirk.
How can anyone talk to him when he looks so good I want to devour him. I know it’s been a while but Jesus if he doesn’t have my lady parts stirring to life. Quick starts to chuckle under his breath, and I realize I haven’t answered him.
“I’m a bitch to everyone,” I huff, giving myself a high five for making a complete sentence without slurring.
“Oh, darlin’, you’re anything but a bitch. This little fire you got spouting out of that sexy little mouth of yours has my body blazing. I was hoping it was just for me,” Quick rasps out, lowering his hand to the middle of my back giving me a squeeze tighter against him, letting me feel his massive erection pressed against his jeans.
I feel my face heat up, but I can’t take my eyes off his baby blues. Goddamn, those things could hypnotize a fucking nun, they’re so mesmerizing to look at.
Izzy’s voice towers over the crowd. “Quick, you bothering my girl?”
He smiles over my shoulder at what I’m assuming is Izzy charging toward us. He leans into me, lowering his face to my ear and whispers, “Have fun with your friend, I’ll be seeing you later.”
Quick slowly let’s go of me but not before making sure I can stand on my own. I hear Ginger still yelling at Shy to put her down behind me.
Goddamn, that man’s tempting. It was like in Thelma & Louise when Brad Pitt first said hello to Thelma at the car. Best movie ever… “I want him. Please, can I have him?” I giggle to myself.
I realize that I’m just standing there staring at him walking away from me when I see Izzy move up next to me also watching him walk away.
Izzy’s smiling, so I know she isn’t mad. “You can if you want.”
“Shit, did I say that out loud?”
“You sure did. You good?” Izzy replies.
I smile in return. “Oh, yeah. I’m good.”
Ginger yells, “I’m not. Put me down, Shy.”
She giggles trying to hit him on the ass but failing horribly.
Shy laughs playfully. “You keep shaking that ass in the air, it’s going to be spanked, you hear me?’
Ginger giggles, replying, “Promises. Promises.”
Shy sets her down kissing her forehead. Ginger smiles up at him, then smacks him on the shoulder. As she starts to move toward us, we all hear a SMACK. Ginger’s face turns bright red, but she doesn’t make a sound. She just wiggles her ass and keeps walking toward us girls.
“What the fuck? I leave you two alone for a while, and you’re both shit faced, getting into trouble.”
Ginger huffs, “We were just sitting there, and I wanted to dance. He didn’t need to get all caveman on my ass.”
Izzy crosses her arms over her chest. “You had your ass in the air bouncing around while you were bent over talking to Ruby. And, when I saw Gus rushing to the bar for water, I knew one of you two were in trouble.”
We both look at each other.
“What? I’m not that drunk.” Ginger sounds somewhat normal. Bitch.
I smile. “Well, I am fuucked up!”
Both girls bust up laughing grabbing me for a group hug.
“Good! You need to be wasted this whole trip.” Izzy beams.
“Now get back up there and play some music. I’m fine,” I try to explain to her, feeling bad she left the booth.
“Girl, I’m done. It’s time to party.” Izzy bounces from foot to foot.
“Sweet Jesus,” Gus says from behind us girls.
By the end of the night, I’m smashed. I don’t think any of us girls have left this area all night but twice to pee. Seriously, I don’t know if it’s my first weekend being legally separated and feeling that freedom but I can’t stop looking, there are some seriously hot men here tonight. I feel like a slut with all my dirty little thoughts like in this moment, I know Shy’s Ginger’s, but damn he’s nice to look at, as he walks up placing himself in front of all of us, with his hands on his hips and smiles.
Before I can stop myself, I blurt out, “Fuck. Do y’all breed bad boys or something, ‘cause there are hella fine ass men here.” I try to point at Shy but end up swinging my arm around the room pointing at everything. The girls just keep laughing, since that’s all we’ve been doing tonight.
Shy clears his throat trying to get our attention, but I just stare at him while continuing the conversation in my head, ignoring whatever he’s saying.
He really is good looking. I shift in my chair until my eyes land on some other hot guy. See, that dude is hot-as-fuck. I tilt my head to the side more. And that dude. Seriously there isn’t an ugly guy in here. I lean back and look to my other side where I see Gus standing. Oh yeah, Gus’ fine ass. He’s fur sures a hottie. Gus looks my direction and gives me a nod. He probably is trying to figure out why I’m creepily staring at him. So, I wave like a dumb fuck and say, “Hiye.”
Everyone gets quiet and turns to look at who I just waved and said hi to. Gus busts up laughing. Damn, that is the first time I’ve seen him laugh, like really laugh. See he is fine as fuck.
“That’s fine ,we can ride with you, whatever Gus wants to do since he’s in charge of us,” Izzy replies gingerly.
I look around confused to who Izzy is talking to. Wait, what? Where’s Quick? My head starts spinning from moving my head around too much. I look behind me to see if Quick was sneaking around, but he’s nowhere to be found. I try to speak, but I’m so drunk the only words that come out coherent are, “Quick. Stuff. Is he?”
Everyone laughs but Izzy replies, “Probably with some barfly. Don’t you worry we got it all under control.”
Chapter Four
My head.
Jesus Christ who let me drink so much.
Mary Mother of Jesus, my head hurts! I hate my life. Sleep. Yes, sleep.
I feel around the bed then I feel myself, letting out an exhale of relief when I feel I’m fully clothed and alone. My head pounds and I groan.
“Rise and shine, Ruby Rube,” Izzy says all chipper.
I groan again holding my head. “Go away.”
“Sorry, no can do. Let’s get going. I have places to be, and you have people to meet. Let’s go.”
I don’t understand, people to meet?
“What?” I murmur.
“I have to head into the office, and I want you to meet a few people. One, being my boss and the owner of Spin It, Luc Mancini. Two, I have a surprise for you, that I’m hoping you will like. I want you to keep your mind open to new things today. Like a new future for you if you want it. ”
I peek out from under the covers noticing we’re in a really nice room. Izzy is standing next to the bed with her hands on her hips.
“Where are we?” I grumble.
“We’re at the hotel where most of Spin It’s employees and my security team live. Ginger lives in this building, well, when she isn’t at the clubhouse. Gus lives here too along with most of the security team, Alex, and her parents. We’re in one of the suites they reserve for out of town DJs. I’ve stayed here many times during the craziness. Gus needed to come home, so we just stayed here, and it had two bedrooms.”
Wait. Did he stay here too?
I look around the bed and see I’m the only one who slept in the bed. I peer up at her with one eye open.
“Where did you sleep last night?”
She turns to leave with a huge smile on her face. “In the other room silly.”
Uh-huh. Right.
I smile calling out after her. “Where did Gus sleep last night?”
No reply.
That’s
what I thought. They’re fucking. I knew it! That little slut didn’t tell me.
Once I trust myself not to throw up, I move to get out of the most amazing bed ever, and I notice my stuff is laying on the dresser. I look in the mirror and almost scream at my reflection.
Oh, God. What if Quick is out there. He can’t see me like this. Shit, how did I get into bed last night?
I look down at my cami and boy shorts.
Who the fuck changed me?
Before I can begin to have a panic attack, my head starts having a pulse of its own, distracting me from my thoughts. I clean up as much as I can and try to look somewhat presentable before heading out in search of coffee and answers.
Once I reach what looks to be the living room and kitchen I realize we are alone. Unless Gus is in the shower with her, we are alone.
Thank fucking God.
I don’t think I could handle small chat with anyone right now. I move towards the coffee maker thanking the gods there is some already made. Halfway through my coffee, Izzy emerges from her room all showered and clean.
“You're up.”
“Shhhh. You don't have to talk so loud,” I whisper.
“You good? Are you going to be able to make it this whole weekend?” Izzy says sarcastically with a laugh.
I look up feeling nauseous. “God, I hope so. I’m not used to partying since Bella was born.”
“You’ll be fine.” She turns to go back into the room she stayed in, but I stop her.
“Are you alone in there or do I need to close my eyes when I come in?”
Izzy turns slightly to look over her shoulder at me. “It's only me.” She smiles. “Now.”
Sneaky little bitch.
I fucking love it. Shit, I wish I had got some. I need to get laid, but I guess it was a good thing I didn’t because I would want to remember it. It’s been months, ever since it all went bad with Brody.
Don’t think about it. Get up. Get ready. It's my time.
I push my chair back thinking I need to put my big girl panties on and start my morning pep talk.